Her, Emma Thompson, and Octavia Spencer Win Early Surprise Awards from National Board of Review

It’s raining little gold men, or perhaps more accurately, it’s raining the many iterations of warm-up awards that precede the most important little gold man next March. Following Monday’s Gotham Awards (during which Matthew McConaughey accepted his prize via speakerphone) and yesterday’s New York Film Critics Circle Awards (during which American Hustle took the top prize), the National Board of Review has unveiled its own surprising picks for this year’s winners in film.

The top prize, shockingly, did not go to presumed awards season frontrunner 12 Years a Slave, or even its de facto runner-up, American Hustle. Instead it went to Her, Spike Jonze’s technological romance in which Joaquin Phoenix’s lonely character falls in love with his operating system, sexily voiced by Scarlett Johansson. (Jezebel takes issue with the fact that Phoenix falls for a sexy robot manufactured to be subservient to his every organizational whim, but National Board of Review voters apparently did not feel similarly offended.) Jonze also picked up the prize for Best Director, the accolade that last year went to Kathryn Bigelow whose Zero Dark Thirty took the best picture title at the same show.

In other surprises, Alexander Payne’s black-and-white dramaNebraska swept the actor categories, with Bruce Dern and Will Forte winning the lead and supporting titles. It turns out that Emma Thompson’s cavalcade of gloriously candid interview admissions—tongue-kissing Meryl Streep, hand-drawn sex manuals, etc.—or perhaps her genuinely touching performance inSaving Mr. Banks has paid off: the Oscar winner took the best actress category.

Meanwhile Octavia Spencer, Angela Lansbury’s Murder She Wrote successor, nabbed the supporting actress trophy for her work inFruitvale Station, while her co-star Michael B. Jordan, won for breakthrough performance. Oscars forecasters take note, though: none of last year’s National Board of Review victors in acting, directing, or best picture went on to win Academy Awards. Find the complete list of winners below.

Spotlight Award: Career Collaboration of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio

NBR Freedom of Expression Award:Wadjda

Creative Innovation in Filmmaking Award:Gravity

Top Films (in alphabetical order)

12 Years a Slave

Fruitvale Station

Gravity

Inside Llewyn Davis

Lone Survivor

Nebraska

Prisoners

Saving Mr. Banks

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

The Wolf of Wall Street

Top 5 Foreign Language Films (in alphabetical order)

Beyond the Hills

Gloria

The Grandmaster

A Hijacking

The Hunt

Top 5 Documentaries (in alphabetical order)

20 Feet from Stardom

The Act of Killing

After Tiller

Casting By

The Square

Top 10 Independent Films (in alphabetical order)

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints

Dallas Buyers Club

In a World…

Mother of George

Much Ado About Nothing

Mud

The Place Beyond the Pines

Short Term 12

Sightseers

The Spectacular Now

The winners have over a month to prepare their acceptance speeches, as the awards will not be presented until the official ceremony in New York on January 7, hosted by Good Morning America anchor Lara Spencer.